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Does an account closed by the Issuer always hurt your credit score?

Submitted by Adam Foxworthy on Mon, 12/13/2010 - 13:49
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I just got a letter from HSBC today, canceling my credit card for two reasons:

Delinquency or derogatory trade line.
Number of installment trades or installments not paid as agreed.

After calling them up and talking to them, they told me that the closure was in regards to other items on my credit report, and not the account with them. Which by the way is PERFECT. No late payments, no missed payments, and a zero balance as of august. I'm actually quite certain that the zero balance for the last 4 months is the reason that the account was actually closed. And in regards to my credit score and payment history, it is 85% better now than it was when they issued me the card.

My question is this: Is the closure of my account going to ding my credit score, and if it is, is there anything I can do about it?


If you could spend small amounts on your card (e.g. $20) and then pay it off consistently then it would affect your scores positively. It may have increased your scores. But since you've been sitting idle on a zero-balance it might not be beneficial for your credit scores.


Submitted by on Tue, 12/14/2010 - 23:09

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Hi!
Welcome to the forums!
It is irrelevant whether you closed the account or your creditor. It will only be reported on your credit report as "closed by issuer/creditor". Closing an account may hurt your credit score under the following circumstances:

a) This is your last remaining credit card
b) You have still some balance in the account
c) It is an old account

Now that the account is closed, I don't think there is much you can do. However, you can ask them to remove the listing from your credit report.


Submitted by Good Nelly on Tue, 12/14/2010 - 23:40

Good Nelly

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Well, what I can tell you is that it hardly makes a difference whether it's you or the creditor who closes your card account. It will probably have the same impact on your score. I don't think anyone ever got their credit score increased by closing a card. These days it's quite common that a card account gets closed following inactivity.


Submitted by on Wed, 12/15/2010 - 01:33

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Well,

It was my last credit card. I do have some charge accounts, and other things that still open. Capital One pissed me off by adding an annual fee a month after i paid off my card balance, so I had canceled them. I was going to use this credit card, but didn't ever really need it for anything.

Anyhow, thanks for answering.


Submitted by Adam Foxworthy on Wed, 12/15/2010 - 13:37

Adam Foxworthy

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